Different perspectives on whether homosexuality is biology or choice

Story by Kayla Matzke
Montana Kaiman

It’s a question asked in various forms for countless years. Does homosexuality come from a person’s biological makeup, or is it a choice?

With different perspectives from different fields of study, five University of Montana professors addressed this question Thursday night at a panel discussion to a packed audience in the University Center.

In his humorous and personal speech, English Department Chair Casey Charles suggested the discussion be renamed “Homophobia: biology or choice.”

“I went through it. I slept with women. I prayed to the God of heterosexuality,” Charles said.

But he said he doesn’t do it any longer. “I am buying into my right to desire who I want to,” he said.

Charles questioned what right scientists have to study homosexuality. He said instead of inquiring into biology, people should fight for equal rights and celebrate homosexuality’s heritage and culture.

“Sexuality is culturally constructed in history. Homosexuality is neither biologically dictated nor individual choice,” Jabour said.

Bryan Cochran, a professor of clinical psychology, said that the question is not black and white.

In 1997, the American Psychological Association reversed an established precedent that homosexuality is a mental illness and stated that it is not an illness and there is no therapy to “cure” it, he said.

Homosexuality is a part of one’s self just like culture or language, and it isn’t a matter of choice, said French Professor Michel Valentin. He said sexuality is something that is embedded in one’s self from biological determinism. It is something that can’t be controlled, he said.

Human sexuality instructor and clinical sexologist Lindsey Doe said she gets upset when she teaches human sexuality with an old curriculum that tells her to ask, “Where does homosexuality come from?” Doe said if that question is to be asked, then the same needs to be asked about heterosexuality.

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